A MIXED-METHOD SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF LOW-INCOME DIVERSE OLDER VOLUNTEERS

Although the health benefits of volunteering among older adults are well established in gerontology, older migrants' abilities and interests in social participation are hardly recognized. To address the gap, we collected focus groups and survey information in Russian, Khmer, Somali, Nepali, and English to understand the volunteering experiences, social networks, and feelings of loneliness among low-income diverse volunteers in the Senior Companions Program (SCP) in Columbus, Ohio (N=41). The grounded theory approach informed the qualitative analysis. Exponential Random Graph Modeling (ERGM) was utilized to identify statistically significant structural features in the volunteers' network. Five major themes emerged from the focus groups: (1) Expanding and strengthening social networks through volunteering;(2) Experiencing and coping with loneliness;(3) Experiencing and managing the social impact of COVID;(4) Exploring and loving the program;(5) Social connections outside of the program. Graphs and preliminary ERGM results demonstrate that participants tend to form homophily-based relationships with other volunteers of the same gender (β=2.45, p< 0.001) and from the same country (β=4.86, p< 0.001). However, participants tend to form friendships with people from different racial (β= -1.12, p< 0.001) and different educational backgrounds (β = -0.88, p< 0.001). The tendency to reciprocate (β= 0.96, p< 0.001) and to form triads (β= 9.90, p< 0.001) are both positively significant in the networks. Findings imply that practitioners should attend to within- and cross-cultural relationships in programs for diverse older adults. Addressing language barriers and other sources of homophily may facilitate cross-cultural friendships.

Linking Consumer's Needs with Product Performance on E-shopping Platforms with Fashion Big Data (FBD) API Plugins

Since 2020, the precedence of COVID-19 and its variants has made a significant impact on the global fashion industry and instigated a fundamental change in consumer purchasing behaviour. A series of lockdowns, travel restrictions, social distancing has forced consumers to rely on and adapt to online shopping methods, causing major branding retail companies to innovate new online based consumer interaction systems. Moreover, work from home has significantly cut down sales in formal wear, while outing restrictions and social distancing has further cut down demand for fast and luxury fashion. Consumer needs and preferences in turn have reoriented towards home comfort and athleisure wear, as well as essential wearables. However, the current online shopping platforms do not provide a way for consumers to specify their own needs and preferences which leads to dissatisfaction for consumers, uncertainty in consumer purchases resulting in high inventory risk for branding retailers, as well as suppliers. This paper introduces how consumer's needs and preferences can be linked with product performance on e-shopping platforms with the novel consumer interactive system "Fashion Big Data (FBD) API plugins". It will describe how the FBD API plugins can enable consumers to set their own needs and preferences;compare consumers' needs and preferences with certified product performance;and provide respective smart personalized product recommendations. The paper will demonstrate real business case examples with hand feel, skin feel and thermal wear comfort FBD API plugins from the EU Horizon 2020, Fashion Big Data Model (FBD B_MODEL) project. This will be followed by FBD B_MODEL business case partner and consumer feedback. © Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium Proceedings 2022 - 15th Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium, TBIS 2022.

Developing Digital Fashion Business Models Through Fashion Big Data (FBD) ICT Technology Platform

The COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed the change in fashion consumer demand. With more apparel consumers turning to online shopping, brand owners, retailers, and suppliers in the textile industry supply chain are facing new challenges in transitioning from the traditional offline business model to the new online business model. This paper first discusses the behavioural changes of fashion consumers, the supply chain participants, and the policymakers, and identifies the pain points of the industry. To address these pain points, the FBD digital fashion business model was then proposed, and the C2B2B ICT platform was developed to enable fashion brandings, retailers, and manufacturers to adopt the new business model. The architecture of the digital platform is explained. Finally, the paper introduces how the retailer, garment manufacturer, fabric manufacturer, yarn manufacturer and fibre manufacturer can build up their digital business models by using the FBD C2B2B platform with real case studies. © Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium Proceedings 2022 - 15th Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium, TBIS 2022.

Development of a Cancer Support Nurse Telehealth Clinic to facilitate symptom management and urgent clinical review

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic required health services to find novel approaches to provide facilitate timely review for patients receiving systemic cancer therapies (SCT). Telehealth permits greater efficiency and access and visual assessment of specific adverse effects. A pilot Telehealth Cancer Support Nurse Review Clinic (TCSN-RC) was established. This service complements existing cancer support nurse service (CSNS). The clinic is staffed by advanced practice oncology nurses, with care guided by a triage tool and an established referral pathway. Aim: To explore the use of telehealth to enhance the CSNS in providing rapid review for symptom and toxicity management of patients receiving SCT. Method: Quality improvement methodology has been used to evaluate and improve the TCSN-RC. Patient and CSN (Cancer Support Nurse) experience survey questionnaires were developed and analysed. Regular project team meetings reviewing interim results has allowed for improvement of processes. Results : Since the commencement in October 2020, there have been 18 CSN telehealth consultations. Twenty-eight per cent (n = 5) of patients and 100% (n = 4) of Cancer Support Nurses (CSN) have completed an evaluation survey. All patients (n = 5) strongly agreed or agreed they felt confident using the technology, the telehealth saved them travel time, the need to see their GP and enabled them to better manage their own symptoms. Participant reported feeling reassured by seeing a familiar face and prompt service from knowledgeable nurses. They reported having good video connections, could see and hear well. All CSN's (n = 4) strongly agreed or agreed that the telehealth consultation was convenient for them, helped to conduct better symptom assessments and were comfortable with telehealth technology Conclusion: Early results indicate the TCSN-RC service is a valuable addition to the CSN's in the delivering symptom and urgent clinical review with ongoing evaluation of results and potential for improvements in process as the study continue.

What moves Hong Kong's train ridership?

Hong Kong is a densely populated international metropolis with ∼7.5 million residents living in a small geographic area of ∼1,100 km2. Like some major cities around the world, it has a vast public transportation system that moves ∼12.4 million passengers per day, ∼42% of which is attributable to the Mass Transit Railway's (MTR's) extensive network interconnecting widely dispersed stations across Hong Kong. MTR's ridership substantially declined in 2019 because of social unrest and related system service suspension (SSS). This decline was further exacerbated by Covid-19's outbreak in 2020. Using a hand-collected sample of monthly data for January 2000–June 2020, we estimate a log-linear demand regression to find that MTR's ridership is price and income inelastic, varies seasonally, and exhibits a trend of gradual growth. Further, Covid-19, social unrest and SSS significantly reduce MTR's ridership. Finally, the estimates for passenger welfare losses due to SSS and social unrest are large, revealing the potential gains from improving MTR's service reliability and resolving the root causes of social unrest.

CareMin650, nouveau dispositif de photobiomodulation pour la prévention et le traitement des mucites orales et des radiodermites : résultats de l’étude SAFE PBM

Introduction et but de l’étude La photobiomodulation est recommandée pour prévenir la mucite orale au cours du cancer de la tête et du cou traité par irradiation et a montré des résultats encourageants sur la radiodermite au cours du cancer du sein. Les dispositifs actuels ne permettent pas une administration reproductible ni standardisée. CareMin650 permet l’illumination des tissus par des applicateurs souples, faits de fibres optiques tissées, placés au contact des tissus (peau ou muqueuse), délivrant une lumière rouge à 650nm. Matériel et méthodes Il s’agissait d’une étude française multicentrique prospective chez des patients pris en charge par radiothérapie pour un cancer de la tête et du cou (cohorte A) ou du sein (cohorte B), en situation préventive (A1 et B1) ou curative (A2 et B2). Une prophylaxie (3j/cm2) a été débutée à j1 de la radiothérapie (trois à cinq séances par semaine), un traitement curatif (6j/cm2, cinq séances par semaine) a été débuté à l’apparition d’une lésion, les séances ont été réalisées juste avant ou après la radiothérapie. Le critère principal était la tolérance (CTCAEv4). Les critères secondaires étaient l’efficacité, la satisfaction du patient et de l’opérateur. Résultats et analyse statistique Soixante-douze patients ont été inclus dans l’analyse en ITT (22 A1, neuf A2, 23 B1 et 18 B2) pour un total de 1312 sessions de CareMin650. Il y a eu 17 sorties prématurées de l’étude, principalement liées à la pandémie de covid-19. Les traitements sont résumés dans le Tableau 1. La tolérance était très bonne, aucun évènement indésirable lié au dispositif n’a été observé. Le Tableau 2 résume les données des patients ayant reçu le traitement prophylactique. En ce qui concerne l’efficacité (population per protocole), en situation préventive, le délai médian d’apparition des lésions était de 20jours (intervalle : 3–50jours). En situation curative, le nombre médian était de deux lésions (intervalle : 1–4) en début de traitement, de grade maximal 1 (70,4 %), 2 (25,9 %) ou 3 (3,7 %). À la fin de la radiothérapie, il était observé pour une majorité de patients une stabilisation (52 %) ou une amélioration (19 %). En ce qui concerne la satisfaction, la majorité des patients ont trouvé le traitement non contraignant (81,3 %), non douloureux (87,5 %), satisfaisant (93,6 %) et 89,1 % ont pu tenir les applicateurs seuls pendant les sessions. La satisfaction globale des opérateurs était de 96 %. Conclusion CareMin650 est un nouveau dispositif très bien toléré et simple d’utilisation qui peut améliorer la faisabilité de la photobiomodulation chez les patients recevant un traitement pour un cancer.

Analysis of related patents on coronavirus monoclonal antibody therapy

Coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and the recently epidemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), seriously threaten human health and cause significant economic losses. Monoclonal antibodies targeting coronaviruscs may inhibit viral infection by blocking viral binding to the receptor on cells. In this study, the patent applications and clinical trial results for monoclonal antibody drugs against coronavirus were analyzed primarily to provide ideas and references for the application of monoclonal antibodies in the fight against COVID-19, and to accelerate the drug development process. There are currently no established patents related to the monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, both due to COVID-19's relatively recent emergence, and due to the lengthy patent application and publication process. A thorough global analysis of monoclonal antibody patent applications indicates a total of 194 diagnostic monoclonal antibody techniques, accounting for 63%, and 113 therapeutic monoclonal antibody techniques, accounting for 37%. Among those applications related to therapeutic monoclonal antibody technology, product patent applications dominate, with a total number of 96, accounting for 85%. According to the geographical analysis of applicants for coronavirus therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, there are 35 patent applications from, accounting for 31%, and 78 foreign patent applications, accounting for 69%. The analysis of the target of the coronavirus therapeutic monoclonal antibody-related patent applications indicates that there are 61 patent applications for monoclonal antibodies specific to the virus's own antigen, accounting for 54%. This type of monoclonal antibody specifically targets viral antigens to suppress viruses, whereas the other 52 patent applications in this category target viral non-specific monoclonal antibodies, accounting for 46%. Amongst current studies on the monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. relevant patent applications for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are mainly based on products, and the target is the S protein or its receptor binding region (RBD), which prevents virus infection of cells. Currently, there are no available therapeutic monoclonal antibody drugs against coronavirus. The monoclonal antibody drug specifically targeting the S protein of MERS-CoV is still in clinical trials. Three monoclonal antibody drugs treating for COVID-19 are also in clinical trials, all of which involve second use of the known monoclonal antibodies in their mechanisms. The RBD of SARS-CoV-2 has common-epitope peptide with SARS-CoV. By verifying the effect of the monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV in the treatment of COVID-19, patent applications for the use of the monoclonal antibody against COVID-19 can be designed. Methods of blocking monoclonal antibodies against the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 can be used as potential drug mechanisms for the treatment of COVID-19. Related patent applications and drug development will also be hot spots in the future.